With long, red hair, most popular Orlando Solar Bear is hard to miss

Scott Tanski has earned nicknames and fan club because of long, bright red hair.

November 6, 2013|By Bryan Levine, Orlando Sentinel

In the mostly anonymous world of minor-league hockey, Scott Tanski needs no introduction.

The Orlando Solar Bears right winger's long, bright red hair says it all. Hanging around his shoulders, the hair is an instant conversation starter, earning Tanski a slew of nicknames and his own fan club.

"Whenever I'm out with the boys, any time they see a redheaded person in public, they'll always ask me if I'm related to that person," said Tanski, who will be on the ice Thursday night when the Solar Bears host the Elmira Jackals in an ECHL game at Amway Center. "No matter what they look like, another redheaded person is always my long-lost sibling.

"We get a kick out of it."

It's not often that a player without eye-popping stats — Tanski has scored 10 goals in 65 career games with the Solar Bears — has hair that is. He began letting his locks flow in March 2011 and has embraced the attention that his distinct look has attracted.

"I never decided to grow out my hair,'' said Tanski, who gets his red hair from his mother, Corrine. "It's something that just sort of happened. As the hair continued to grow, it started to grow on me."

So have the nicknames. Some are obvious, such as Pippi Longstocking, while others are more creative.

"We have an Ironman mask we give out to the 'Ironman' of the game after every win," said Eric Baier, Tanski's teammate. "One day he got ahold of it, pulled his head around it and he looked exactly like the predator from the movies.

"We've been calling him 'The Predator' ever since."

Said Solar Bears coach Vince Williams: "I compare him to [long-haired Pittsburgh Steelers safety] Troy Polamalu. That stuff gets you some popularity. Maybe he can get Pantene Pro-V to endorse him and make some money."

Tanski's hair has inspired some fans, most notably Jon Moore and Nick Szymula.

Better known as "The Tanski Twins," they attended nearly every game last season dressed in red, curly wigs and Tanski jerseys.

"During warmups of that first game, we were trying to figure out who our favorite player would be," Szymula said. "The moment we saw his long, red, curly hair, we thought, 'Wouldn't it be funny if we wore wigs to the game and dressed up like him?'"

It was not funny this past summer when Tanski and his girlfriend, Kayla, were bored and took a straightener to his hair.

"It went all the way down my back,'' Tanski said. "I looked like a lion, and I didn't like that look at all.

"It was certainly a devastating experience to my ego.''

Tanski trims his hair occasionally to keep it looking healthy and has no plans to cut it all off.

He said he only would consider it only so the hair could go to a charity such as Locks of Love, which makes hairpieces for children who lost their hair because of a disease.

"I think I would feel bad for anyone who ends up with my hair. It's so frizzy. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone, but I'm pretty sure they can dye and straighten it to make it look better."